Film

By Ellery Nick @Ellery_Nick James corrects his older brother, ‘It’s not Jimmy anymore, its James.’ Reluctantly, Frankie accepts this and we take James’s point. He wants to be taken seriously. Frankie and Jimmy? This isn’t some toothpick-chewing bank robbery yarn set in the Big Easy after all. In American Heist, Hayden Christensen plays muscle-car driving James, who is less than thrilled about older brother Frankie’s return from prison after managing to pull his socks up and re-enter the civilised world...

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle Saved from triteness (just) by Al Pacino's utterly gratifiying, larger than life performance, Danny Collins takes as its springboard the story of folk musician Steve Tilston who received a letter from John Lennon thirty five years too late. In an interview with a music magazine Tilston had expressed some fear over the potentially corrupting power of the riches and fame integral to the rock-star trajectory.  Lennon took issue with this and wrote to then twenty one...

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor The greatest tragedy of Paul Gascoigne's life is how few people will remember him for what he was; a truly phenomenal footballer. A mainstay of tabloid newspapers, the England legend has endured an unprecedented fall from grace since the glory days of his football career. The public's insatiable appetite for hero to villain stories has kept his tragic demise in the public eye, but even by the standards of the heartless redtops, his life has...

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle Referred to only as The Girl: here is a heroine you can root for, a vigilante, feminist, vampire with excellent taste in music plus skateboarding ability, yes please! Not that this heroine is overtly kick-ass; she's a quiet, lonely soul but if anything this makes her even more appealing. Even the basic fact of seeing a female, (and a vulnerable looking female at that), stalking the streets at night (as opposed to being stalked), was in...

Interviewed by Stephen Mayne   Over a decade after his death in 2003, Elliott Smith’s memory lives on with many. Heaven  Adores You tells his story, focusing on the music that made him so beloved. Following the film’s  release last week, director Nickolas Dylan Rossi took the time to answer questions for us about  his debut documentary.    How did you first discover Elliott Smith?  I discovered Elliott's music in the 90s by living in Portland. First through Heatmiser, then by  watching him play solo. But like many people, I discovered his music by friends in Portland  sharing it widely.    Why did you want to make a film about him?  We wanted to make a film that really looked at the music of Elliott Smith and why it continues to  influence fans and other musicians today. He was a great artist who left us too soon. We wanted  to make sure that the next generations of fans of Elliott's music had something to reference  about his life and career.    Who do you hope to reach with the film?  I hope this film can satisfy the super fan as well as the uninitiated. Hopefully there’s enough of a  cohesive story of Elliott’s journey to find interesting to watch, but also a new found appreciation  for his process as a musician.     How long did it take to find the contributors and how keen were they to participate?  It’s sort of known that when Elliott passed away, not a lot of his friends wanted to talk to the  media about him, because the media really wanted to focus on the last couple of years of his  struggles instead of the bigger picture. They were very protective — and rightfully so — of their  friend. I’m not going to say it was easy to get people to talk to us-- it required a tremendous  amount of faith and trust on their part that we would make the film that we said that we would  make, which was to honour him and focus on the music that he made.    So is that why the film looks more at his music and the reaction others had to it rather than  the darker parts of his life?  The film is about Elliott's music. We really wanted to keep the focus there, and not on the more  sensational, tabloid aspects of his life that the media needlessly seems to want to focus on.    Were there any people you wanted in the film that you couldn't get to participate?  I think we were extremely lucky to get the support and the heartfelt stories from as many of  Elliott’s friends as we could. He seemed to touch so many lives that I’m sure there were many  more people we could’ve talked to. At the end, I think we’re grateful to have as many folks as  we did take their time to talk with us.     What impact do you think his growing fame had on him?  It’s hard to say because I wasn’t there with him, but I think he has an idea of what it’s going to  be like for him when he says, “I’m the wrong kind of person to be really big and famous...”    What is it about him that inspires such devotion?  I think what's great about Elliott's story is that he really speaks for the everyman. His music  really spoke to universal themes that are very accessible for people. I think it's very easy to  relate to Elliott's music and it seems that you don't necessarily need to be a fan of his music to  enjoy watching his journey, but there's a good chance you'll appreciate his music by the end of  the film.    What do you think his legacy will be in years to come?  I hope Elliott's music will continue to be embraced, firmly placing him in the canon of great  singer songwriters, like Dylan, Lennon, Cohen, Drake, etc. He was an exceptional talent. I hope  we're still sharing his music in 40 years.    Heaven Adores You was released in the UK on 7th May 2015. Our review can be found here.     

By Stephen Mayne There are few subjects the world of art likes more than itself. Film is no exception, the history of cinema littered with hymns to the noble endeavour and exposés of a tragic, fame obsessed industry. Steering clear of both extremes, Clouds of Sils Maria plays out as a thoughtful backstage melodrama that trumpets the craft while taking sly digs at the commercialisation of the form and the vanity of the players. It helps that Director Olivier Assayas...